Mother
moved to hold Father in criminal contempt for his failure to
pay child support in full each month. After finding a failure
to pay child support as ordered, the court held father in
criminal contempt. Because the order contains insufficient
findings of fact, we vacate the judgment and remand for
further proceedings.

On May
19, 2016, the Chancery Court for Sullivan County, Tennessee,
entered an order reducing the child support obligation of
Brian Richard Neely ("Father") from $1, 244 to $890
per month retroactive to June 2014, when the older of his two
children graduated high school. Among other things, the court
also found that a child support arrearage had accrued in the
amount of $4, 517.70, which the court ordered Father to pay
to Christina Klepper Neely ("Mother") in full, plus
interest, within 30 days.

On June
7, 2017, Mother filed her "Second Amended Fourth Motion
for Contempt" (the "Contempt
Motion").[2] According to Mother, Father "failed
to pay child support in the amount of [$]890.00 per month as
Ordered by this Court" since March 2016. And she alleged
that Father "ha[d] made no voluntary payment of child
support in any amount since December 2,
2016."[3] Mother sought a finding that Father
"willfully and without Order of this Court has failed to
pay child support in the amount Ordered by this Court from
March 1, 2016 to current date." Mother requested that
Father be found in "willful criminal contempt" and
be "punish[ed] . . . to the full extent necessary
including, but not limited to incarceration, to vindicate the
authority of the Court and prevent future violations."
Mother also sought payment of the accumulated child support
arrearage plus interest, attorney's fees, court costs,
and suit expenses.

On July
10, 2017, the court held a hearing on the Contempt Motion.
Following the hearing, the court entered an order noting that
the parties had a pending mediation on Father's petition
for modification of the parties' parenting plan scheduled
for July 20. The order provided that, if the issues of
support and visitation remained unresolved following
mediation, the court would "conduct a teleconference
with the attorneys and announce its ruling on [the Contempt
Motion]." The court reserved "[a]ll other
matters."

Mediation
proved unsuccessful. And, on July 27, 2017, the court entered
an order finding that Father "ha[d] failed to
voluntarily make a child support payment to Mother since
early December 2016" and that the child support
arrearage was now $9, 628.80. The court ordered Father to pay
Mother the child support arrearage with interest within 30
days. Additionally, the court "award[ed] Mother her
attorney fees . . . and suit expenses," also to be paid
within 30 days. Finally, the court held Father "in
criminal contempt with punishment reserved."

A month
later, on August 29, 2017, the court ordered Father "to
serve ten (10) days in jail and . . . to pay a fine of fifty
dollars ($50.00) within thirty (30) days." But it
allowed "Father [to] make a purge payment directly to
Mother in the amount of $9, 949.19 by ...

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